Promise of a Lifetime
by iamamar
Summary: Naruto had lots of chakra, there was no doubt about that. Iruka felt that with a little bit of training, Naruto could become one of the greatest shinobi known to man. Sadly, things never work out for the scarred  man.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I have written a bit into this story, and I would like to see reviews on how I can improve my writing. My writing is a little awkward, but in due time I should get my usual mojo back. Feel free to criticize me. Tell me where I can improve, but don't just blatantly yell at my story it's annoying. Yeah, I know lots of people start with a Kyuubi flashback, but mine is just a bit different. Please read and review!

Summary: Iruka was a man with a past unknown to many, but he saw something in Naruto that he could use to help the village, his chakra reserves. Iruka takes it onto himself to train Naruto in the basics of being a shinobi to the advanced techniques. That was the plan at least, but things have a way of working themselves out, don't they?

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

* * *

(October 10th The Night of the Kyuubi Attack)

_Hell. The only word anyone could possibly use to describe what had happened this fateful night. Iruka had lost both his parents, many of his friends, and numerous relatives in the span of one night that the village would never forget… That is if the village recovered from this devastating attack. The Kyuubi, strongest of all the tailed demons had attacked Konoha, crippling them by cutting the shinobi forces drastically and taking the life of their leader, Namikaze Minato. He had given his life sealing the beast away into an infant. An infant named Uzumaki Naruto, a day that would change his life forever. No longer would he be looked at as a boy, but by many the demon that was responsible for killing so many of their friends and family. He would be shunned by all those around him._

_They had seen it coming a mile away, literally. The demon's tails flattening the nearby mountains made it quite clear that something truly evil was approaching. They had little time to prepare as the beast had swooped upon them within minutes of the first sightings, how it had avoided their scouts was a question left unanswered. _

_Iruka made his way to the frontlines trying to save them. He was too late; as he approached the two were caught by a tail and were killed instantly. Iruka stared in shock as a fellow shinobi pulled him away from the frontlines as all he could do was sit there, mouth agape as the scene played itself over and over in his mind. The boy no older than fourteen had witnessed his two parents die before his eyes. It was something he would never forget. _

_He sat in his apartment for days at a time, not contacting any of his friends who had survived, for they most likely spent their time mourning these tragic losses as well. So he thought at least, because when he went out for the first time in over a week he saw many people helping to rebuild their crippled home, civilian and shinobi. Many had lost their precious people, but decided not to let that get in their way because they had something else to live for. Iruka took a mental note of this and realized that he couldn't dwell on the past and that he had to rebuild with what he had, like many of these people had done. They were no different he realized; only that they were stronger, but he promised to change that and he decided to live for those precious to him._

_Iruka became stronger as time went by, both physically and mentally. He had outgrown his weakness and had become a prominent Anbu member at the age of sixteen. He had dedicated much of his life to training, but he never forgot to enjoy the life he did live and for that he was nicknamed 'The Kind Hearted Killer' by his peers. He was content with his life, never forgetting his past, but never dwelling on it either. He rose through the ranks and was quickly looked at as a potential candidate for the next Hokage position._

_

* * *

_

(About ¾'s of the way through the current school year)

The entire class was lined up at the front of the room because of Naruto's antics once again. He had successfully defaced the Hokage monument for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Each face was painted with whacky colors making the village's heroes look like jokes. As Iruka was chewing Naruto out for another failed attempt at the basic Bunshin technique all he could think about was the amount of chakra this boy had stored inside him. 'The sheer amount of raw chakra inside this tiny body is incredible… The things Konoha could do if someone started teaching him earlier. I guess it is better late than never.'

As the rest of the academy students performed their perfect Bunshin's Naruto grumbled, complaining how this technique was complete bull. 'This kid… What am I going to do with him?' Iruka thought so himself shaking his head.

Soon after class ended Iruka called out to Naruto and told him to stay for a bit. Naruto thought to himself, 'Oh joy I'm going to get my ass chewed out AGAIN, well at least it's not in front of the whole class.'

"So Iruka-Sensei, what do you want? You plan on berating me for defacing the village's most prized monument like you always do?" Naruto asked sarcastically as though he already knew the answer.

"Actually, no Naruto. Not this time." Naruto looked at him in surprise. "While what you did was wrong, I wanted to talk to you about something else, how about we go to Ichiraku's? That's your favorite ramen place, right?" Iruka asked already knowing the answer.

"Ichiraku? For sure Sensei, let's get going now! We can talk there!" Naruto said enthusiastically. He started running faster than Iruka had ever seen and he was hard pressed to keep up.

'Gosh, this kid is going at jounin level speeds over some ramen. I wonder if this is his actual speed or just his ramen instincts kicking in?' Iruka wondered with a sigh.

In nearly no time they had arrived at the ramen stand when Naruto asked Iruka "So, what did you want to talk to me about Sensei?" While ordering his ramen he looked at the older man curiously.

"Well Naruto, have you ever had any trouble controlling your chakra?" Iruka asked wondering how the boy would react.

"Well, I guess so considering I can't do a basic jutsu like the Bunshin." Naruto said with a beaten expression on his face.

Even as sad as he was the boy still downed a bowl of ramen by the time Iruka had opened his mouth. The response was a sweat drop from Iruka. Getting over his initial shock he said to Naruto, "Look, there's a reason you can't do that kind of jutsu yet. I can help you if you agree to let me be your mentor."

Naruto's eyes lit up at the prospect of being personally trained from his second favorite person in the world, "Really? You can help me become a shinobi? Tell me anything I need to do and you can consider it done if it will make me closer to becoming the Hokage!"

Iruka knew about Naruto's dreams, he made sure it was no secret blurting it out wherever he went. "You're my favorite student Naruto, you remind me of myself when I was younger. However you have to promise not to give up because this is a very tough way to get stronger, but with your willpower I have a feeling you just might be able to pull this off." Iruka stated his eyes distant. 'Considering he has a near endless supply of chakra, honestly this shouldn't be too tough. I always did have a soft spot for jokers…' The man thought to himself

"I wouldn't have it any other way! I don't want to take any short cuts to become the Hokage! I wouldn't believe you if you said it were going to be easy!" Naruto energetically yelled. "So, what kind of training do you have in mind?"

"Well Naruto first I'm going to teach you a little history. Come back to your apartment with me, this is going to be a long talk and you may want to have a seat for this one." Iruka grimly said. 'I don't want to do this, but it's necessary if the kid wants to know about himself. Hopefully after this it will be smooth sailing.'

"History? What for? Can't we just jump into the training?" Naruto asked his smile turning into a frown.

"Yes Naruto, we absolutely have to go over this. No buts." Iruka said with a stern look on his face.

Naruto slowly nodded, but was still suspicious as to what Iruka was getting at. 'This must really be important if he wants to talk to me about it.' Naruto thought slowly.

They took a leisurely stroll to Naruto's apartment. It was beautiful out, the sun was just barely setting and the little light lit up the entire village. Naruto looked around taking in the beauty of the place he called home. The mixture of the warm greens and the cool yellows made for one hell of a stroll.

Eventually they arrived at Naruto's apartment, unlocking the door Naruto took the first step in. Iruka surveyed the area closely before realizing that it was in fact quite well maintained. Naruto was… tidy? That couldn't be true, so he decided to ask "Hey Naruto, this place is surprisingly clean. Is there any reason why it's this clean or is it always like this? Iruka prodded, not worried about offending the student.

"Oh, I just can't stand having too much litter around. It helps me meditate when my surrounding area is clean. Putting my hands on a dirty floor to work out is something I won't do. It's just so unsanitary." Naruto said with a hint of pride in his voice.

"I see…" Said the man trailing off, still gazing at the few possessions the boy had. 'The things I never knew about Naruto… I wonder what other habits he has…' He thought to himself, deciding it was time to get to business. "Alright Naruto, you're going to want to sit down for this." He pulled up two chairs from his dining table so they were facing each other. "What do you know about the fourth Hokage?" Iruka asked to see how much Naruto already knew.

"He was a hero." Naruto said with adoring eyes, "He fought to save the people he cared for giving up his own life to kill the Kyuubi! Honestly I want to be just like him when I grow up." Naruto stated with a spark in his eyes.

'I forgot that Naruto is still when it comes down to it, just a kid. He still has these hopes and dreams. This is going to be much worse than I thought, but I have to do what I have to do…' Iruka thought, savoring the moment before he told the young boy the truth. "Naruto, there's something you need to know." He looked down at the floor before meeting eyes with Naruto, "The fourth Hokage didn't kill the Kyuubi. He did something completely different. Only the adults know about this. This is to be considered an S-ranked secret. If word gets out to any of your peers some very bad things could happen." Iruka finished with a sigh, 'Oh boy, here comes to hard part.'

Naruto's eyes met his. 'Now this could be interesting, an S-ranked secret? This could be much bigger than I thought… I don't think this is just some stupid history lesson…' Naruto contemplated before he heard Iruka speak once more.

"Naruto, this is going to be really heavy, are you sure you're ready for this? I have to be completely sure that you are willing to become my student after hearing of this." Iruka said, wondering what the consequences would be if he told Naruto and the boy lost his own mind. He shuddered at even the thought of how it would affect both their lives.

Naruto nodded; no doubt in his mind that this was going to change his life forever and he was ready for it, better or worse.

"Naruto… Many of the things you have been taught about the fourth Hokage and the Kyuubi are a lie. In reality the fourth could not kill the Kyuubi, and instead was forced to seal it in an infant child. Naruto, when's your birthday?" Iruka asked hoping he would not have to say it himself.

After looking into Naruto's eyes Iruka knew that it had dawned on him. Naruto knew, and there was nothing he could do about it at this point. "October tenth… The very same day the Kyuubi attacked. The reason so many people hate me. The reason my life is so god damn screwed up. He did it! That mother fucker screwed my entire life over! Why the fuck would anyone be so possessed as to seal a demon into a god damn baby's body! What kind of person would do that?" Naruto yelled across the room, Iruka winced at the tone of his voice, but Naruto wasn't done just yet. He went outside and took everything he could to the nearest training ground. The moment he got in range of some training dummies he started shredding them to pieces with his shuriken, kunai, and even his bare hands. After completely wrecking the entire field he turned around and looked up at the monuments. It was dark out but he could still make out the face of the fourth. The man he had adored his entire life, the person who also made his entire life miserable. He could never look at him the same ever again; there would always be a hint of anger when he saw the face of the man who had forsaken him. At this point he walked back into his apartment with Iruka just sitting there, a sad expression on his face.

Staring at Iruka he decided to ask him if his theory was correct, "Sensei… You told me this for a reason, didn't you? It has to do with my training right?" Naruto asked an unwavering determination in his eyes.

Iruka's eyes lit up, 'He's smart, he just doesn't apply himself. Most kids would still be angry at the fourth, but his mind was racing a mile a minute and now he seems at least a bit calmed down.' Realizing he was still being stared at intently he decided to give Naruto an answer, "Well Naruto, as you know your chakra control is… Well garbage for lack of a better term. The tradeoff however is the fact that you have near unlimited chakra levels. This means you can perform jutsu that could kill people with one use numerous times. There's also one more advantage that very few others can use. A technique that increases the speed at which you train one hundred fold." Iruka paused for a moment realizing that this was a lot to take in for Naruto.

Naruto looked at his feet. His whole world just turned upside down. There were a thousand reactions that Iruka expected, but what Naruto did was not one of them. Calmly he said "Keep going. I want to know more about this technique."

Iruka shook his head, 'My god this kid has nerves of steel…' He stared at Naruto trying to see what Naruto was hiding under that calm collected exterior but found nothing, just curiosity and a hint of anger.

"Naruto, this technique is called the Kage Bunshin. It allows you to create physical clone of yourself, not unlike a regular Bunshin, but this one can perform tasks as though it were you. The drawback is that it costs an unusually large amount of chakra, but with your limitless supplies you could just keep pumping out hundreds at a time. The training method that goes with it has long since been discarded due to the fact that it is completely impractical to anyone who doesn't have the chakra levels of a Jinchuriki. Each time a clone disperses, you gain all the knowledge it had learned during its life span. This means you could send a clone to read a book for you while you sat around reading manga and when the clone dispersed, you'd have all the information from the book. These clones are very fragile and one well placed strike could destroy them." Iruka stated feeling slightly winded after everything that just happened.

Naruto nodded at his mentor and politely asked him to leave as he had a lot to think about. Iruka nodded wondering how the boy would fair through the night. He looked at the clock. They had gotten here around 7:30 at night and it was now 11:00. Where the time went he had absolutely no idea. All that Iruka knew was that he probably wouldn't be sleeping tonight. He doubted if Naruto would sleep either. With all that cleared up he decided to take a short detour to a place he hadn't been in a long time. Training area 71.

Iruka stepped out into the medium sized opening where a small cabin lay. He looked around and thought 'God this place hasn't changed a bit in all these years.' He walked into the middle of the clearing and lay down on his back just gazing up to the stars above. They hadn't been this clear in years. He spent the rest of the night just staring up at the stars. Wondering how things with Naruto were going to turn out. "Good luck kid, you're going to need it…" Iruka whispered to himself.

* * *

(Unknown Date)

_He ran through the village, hiding wherever he could. The academy student knew he would be in deep if anyone found him, for he had committed a serious offense to the village, one that could be punishable with death. The offense? He had burned the fourth hokage's most prized possession, the first copy of the fabled Toad Sannin's book, Icha Icha Paradise. It was signed by the sage himself as a show of goodwill to his student. Had everything gone according to plan, that book would be worth enough to buy a small village in a few years. Why did the academy student named Umino Iruka do it? He was dared to by some fellow students of his to see if he would back his title up, 'The Prankster that Never sleeps'. He had snuck into the man's office in the dead of night, bypassing the security quite easily something that was not a good sign for the village just to burn a copy of a smut. _

_He made a dash into the Forest of Death, hoping to lose the savage shinobi in a place only the manliest of men would train. Unfortunately for him, his senior of one year, Maito Gai, was training in hopes of furthering his skills in Tai jutsu. _

_He never stood a chance; the boy challenged him to an obscenely difficult challenge consisting of doing five hundred pushups on your fingertips while running around the village. Iruka decided that it wasn't worth it and gave himself in, knowing that he would be pestered until someone found him no matter what he did. He turned himself in hoping that the punishment would be less severe than if he had been found hiding._

_He was only scolded and given detention for the rest of the year, something that had happened every year before that. 'Damn, I am one hell of a trouble maker. You've outdone yourself this time Iruka!' He thought to himself as he stared at the fourth who was crying next to a tombstone of his now deceased friend. He smiled and walked right back into detention as he was on his bathroom break._

_

* * *

_

(The Next Day)

Naruto walked into class looking down at his feet, not the exuberant, enthusiastic blonde everyone knew him as. It was a little odd seeing Naruto in such a vulnerable position, but Iruka wasn't surprised in the least. Most everyone in the class carried on but a few of his friends noticed Naruto not being… well, Naruto. He just seemed different to them. He put his head down immediately after sitting down, but Kiba wanted to pry about what happened after class yesterday with Iruka.

"So, what happened? You get chewed out AGAIN for sucking at being a ninja?" Kiba asked laughing at his own stupid joke. Everyone else sighing at what he thought was quality humor. He seemed to lack the social skills most kids had due to the fact that his closest friend was indeed a dog.

Naruto looked up at him with the fire in his eyes that everyone knew, and some even loved. "Yeah right Kiba, I could kick your ass any day. No doubt about it." As Naruto was picking a fight, Iruka stepped between the two.

"Sorry, not today. Maybe in a few days, but right now we have some work to go over." Iruka stated prying the two apart, sending them back to their seats. Their childish rivalry annoyed Iruka to no end when they started clawing at each other's throats in the middle of his classroom.

As soon as that whole endeavor was over, Naruto laid his head on the desk, thinking about the events that went on last night. His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. Iruka eyed the boy carefully trying to gauge his reaction. To his surprise Naruto seemed to be able to keep himself under control, no doubt on the inside he was torn up, but he was able to look relatively normal as far as normal goes for Naruto.

Class flew by as all they did that day was basic review and when class ended he asked Naruto to stay after and Naruto complied.

After everyone had left the building Iruka asked, "Naruto, are you ready to train? Or do you still want a day or two to think about what happened?"

"I'm ready, it's now or never. I can't just pretend it didn't happen, so I'm going to use this power to make myself stronger. So where are we going to train?" Naruto asked with a budding enthusiasm.

Iruka smiled at the somewhat enthusiastic boy knowing that he was ready for anything at this point, "Training ground 71, a small clearing in the middle of the forest on the outskirts of Konoha." Iruka said eyeing the place with an almost suspicious look in his eyes. Dismissing it as nothing he went on, "So Naruto let's just jump right into it. First I'm going to teach you the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. After that you will do physical training while your clones read about chakra control and other things a shinobi needs to know." He walked into the middle of the clearing crossed his fingers in the seal for the technique and yelled, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" In a poof of smoke there were three Irukas.

Naruto, unimpressed said "That's just a regular Bunshin, what kind of crap are you pulling?"

Iruka laughed, whispered into one of the clones ears and in a split second the clone dashed up to Naruto and put his finger on his forehead and pushed just a bit, proving to Naruto that it was a physical entity, not some illusion. "Is that good enough to show you that this isn't just some illusion?"

Naruto, eyes wide with his jaw hanging was barely able to nod at the fact that this skill was in fact tangible. A look of shock still on his face, he shook his head and asked, "So that's what I'm learning? Oh hell yes. This is going to be a good day." Naruto looked into the taller man's eyes and smiled, almost devilishly.

Iruka looked at him and shook his head, 'His mood just did a complete 180. Well, I guess it's my job to do that.' "Naruto this jutsu will make you much stronger than you would have been with just academy training, this is a forbidden technique. As such, you have to be responsible for your actions and know the consequences." Iruka said with a stern look in his eyes.

"Wait, this is forbidden? Sensei, you're just a chunin. Why do you know all these things?" Naruto asked with a suspicious look in his eyes.

Iruka looked at his own feet then shifted his eyes back up, "There's a lot you don't know about me, and I'll explain everything once you beat me in a spar, after all I'm just a chunin, right?"

Naruto nodded hoping to know how strong his Sensei truly was. He jumped at him without warning hoping to catch him off guard but the man just side stepped and Naruto planted his head straight into a tree stump. "God damn it! That really freaking hurt!" Naruto exclaimed rubbing his forehead.

Iruka chuckled, 'I guess that speed yesterday really was just for the ramen.' He thought to himself. He looked down at the boy who had an exasperated look on his face. "Let's skip the sparring for now and just jump straight into the Kage Bunshin." Iruka said with a smile on his face. 'Things might just work out, and heck maybe even this little punk can become the Hokage.'

* * *

(Several Hours Later)

Thirty Naruto's stood in the clearing surrounding Iruka. They pounced and Iruka expertly countered every strike and threw them at one another. The clones never stood a chance. 'Thirty Kage Bunshin and the kid isn't even winded, this is going to be great…' Iruka mused while toying with the clones.

The real Naruto aggravated decided to throw all caution to the wind and jump into the fray, Iruka grabbed the leaping boy by the wrist and twirled him around smashing him into clones of himself. When he finished there was just one Naruto left, beaten and bruised. "Take a break Naruto, there's no chance you can beat me without some proper training." Iruka said giving the kid a break.

"Jeez Iruka-Sensei, since when were you this strong?" Naruto asked wondering where all his Sensei's hidden ability came from.

Iruka avoided the question and pulled out a scroll. "Naruto, it's getting late. How tired do you think you are? How many more clones could you make right this instant?" Iruka asked inquisitively.

"Right this instant?" I'd say about forty-five maybe." Naruto said, wondering where this was leading.

'Impressive, after training the whole night away he can still make upwards of 40 clones. This kid is going to go far, that much I'm sure of.' Iruka said to himself. "Well Naruto, the reason I ask is I wanted to know how many books I should take out from this scroll." Iruka said. After seeing the boy's dejected look he responded with, "Look Naruto, it's not always going to be fighting and learning new jutsu, you are going to need to learn the basics some time or another." Iruka put his hand on the scroll, muttered a few words and piles of books came out of thin air. Naruto sweat dropped at the sheer amount of information he would get when he woke up if all went according to plan.

"You want me to read all this tonight?" Naruto asked not catching on to what Iruka had in mind with his clones.

Iruka sighed, even though the boy was smart he was still tired from the hours of training. "No Naruto, you're not reading it, your clones will. That's the beauty of it; your clones have to obey you. They read while you get a good night's rest. You can do this every night if you honestly wanted to. I wouldn't suggest it because of the toll it takes on a person, but then again due to your tenant you have a near limitless supply of chakra." Iruka stated looking down at the seal on Naruto's stomach.

"Well, if I'm learning while I sleep I have absolutely no objections!" Naruto stated happily created forty clones to help him lug the scrolls back to his apartment.

'Oh you won't be thinking that in the morning…' Iruka thought to himself with a smug look on his face.

* * *

(The Next Morning)

Naruto woke up to an empty apartment, his head throbbing, feeling weak, light-headed, but with an overwhelming sense of what chakra itself was, he also felt like he knew the basics of many different styles of martial arts he had never even heard of.

"…Jiu Jitsu? I've never even heard of this style, but I feel like I know the basic concepts. This is freaking weird man!" As he walked over to his bathroom he felt really dizzy and fell over. "God damn, this took a lot more out of me than I thought it would, but I know so much more now than I did before I went to sleep… This is going to be freaking awesome! I can see it now, thousands of adoring fans, lining up for my autograph once I become to Hokage!" As he was musing about the prospects of his shinobi career he decided that breakfast was a bit higher on the agenda for him, and took out a pack of microwave ramen. 'The classics never fail to make me happy in the morning, screw fruit!' Naruto thought happily to himself.

Taking his usual morning stroll to class he found himself tripping over the smallest of pebbles. He decided to talk to Iruka when he got to class. As he stumbled in the door he saw that he was quite early and not too many people had arrived yet, only a few kids here and there. He walked right up to Iruka's desk and asked, "What the hell Sensei, what's wrong with me right now? I feel like a freaking vegetable!" Naruto said with fire in his eyes.

"Well Naruto, that's usually the drawback to training with so many clones at a time. Extreme fatigue, chakra exhaustion, and incredibly migraines are just some of the things you'll experience when you use this training method." Iruka said quickly.

"And you didn't tell me this yesterday because?" Naruto asked aggravated.

"Well, you see, most people call it quits after finding out the toll that this method takes on you, and trust me it only gets worse from here on out. I wanted to see how you would feel after one night of this training method. So, are you up to doing it again?" Iruka asked hoping the boy would say yes.

"Are you joking? As long as I don't die from the training, I'll do this all the time!" Naruto said enthusiastically.

"Alright Naruto, but you have to have at least three days of rest a week, otherwise with your body's condition constantly worsening you will die from chakra exhaustion eventually." Iruka said hoping his logic would stop the boy from over exerting himself.

"Sure, but am I only going to have my clones read for me? What else am I going to use them for?" Naruto asked happily.

"Naruto, this might be a little tough considering I just had you absorb dozens of scrolls worth of knowledge, but do you remember what you read about Chakra Control?" Iruka asked, hoping the knowledge would sink in.

Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment, and then replied "Yeah, I do remember, some stuff about only needing to exert the right amount of chakra so nothing is wasted." Naruto said while looking up.

"Right, amongst other things this will be important for when you use your clones for training. So, what was one method of training you could use to develop chakra control?" Iruka asked.

"Well, to start with there was…" A pause came from the boy as he mustered up the answer in his head, "Walking up trees without using your hands! So are you saying that's what my clones will be doing at night?" Naruto asked, wondering what the benefits could be.

"Yeah Naruto, first I'm going to take you and teach you the basics, then," He noticed that as more kids filed into the room they were staring at them intently trying to eavesdrop. "I'll tell you after class." Then he yelled, "GO SIT DOWN YOU LITTLE TROUBLE MAKER!" To emphasize his point he threw an eraser at Naruto's head.

'God damn, they got it, he didn't have to make it so realistic.' Naruto winced as the eraser hit him dead center in the back of his head. He plopped down onto his seat hoping no one would confront him considering he felt like a vegetable. Luckily everyone seemed to notice that he looked like crap and decided not to confront him, even Kiba.

Iruka asked Naruto to stay after class once again drawing the attention of many of his classmates. "Jeez, that's three days in a row he's been held after class, that's a lot, even for Naruto." Kiba whispered to Shikamaru and Choji, who just nodded in confirmation.

The student and mentor waited for the rest of the class to leave before getting down to business, "Alright Naruto, I can't just keep holding you here after class, instead every day meet me at Training Ground 71 an hour after class ends. That way no one will be suspicious any more. Understood?" Iruka asked.

"Gotcha Sensei." Naruto responded. They decided it would be in their best interest to split up and meet at the training ground in an hour. Naruto arrived at his apartment, deciding to go over the scrolls he had read about basic chakra control amongst various other basic shinobi skills. He looked up at the clock and realized he was going to be late if he didn't leave immediately.

After arriving at the training grounds just in time he was immediately given a scroll by Iruka. "Have a clone read it, it's just some basic details about how to walk up trees, right now I have to go. Once you have it read, use your clones to master the technique. I'll check up on your progress in a few hours." Iruka stated as he vanished into thin air.

'Huh, I wonder what that was all about.' Naruto thought, shrugging he decided to get to work. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" In a poof of smoke a perfect clone appeared and Naruto instructed him to disperse after finishing the scroll.

"Aye sir!" The clone obeyed.

The original Naruto went off to get ramen at his favorite place, Ichiraku's. He ordered 5 bowls of Miso Ramen, downing them all in ten minutes. Soon Naruto knew that he had to coat his feet in a thin layer of chakra, too much and the tree would crack, too little and he would slip off. He summoned fifty clones and set them off to work on it, once they had all perfected it they would disperse. He went back to his apartment, deciding that he would let his clones take care of the tree training. He remembered that he read about weights that one could wear which would enhance their physical abilities. He decided that it was about high time he got to that and he headed for a basic ninja supplies store. He ended up having a nice conversation with the merchant who recommended some light weights to start off, gave him some basic tips and sent him on his way.

He arrived at his apartment a bit tired from the additional weight of his new training tools. He decided that it would definitely be worth it in the end. He had them around his ankles and wrists.

He decided that he needed some rest and didn't bother doing the homework that night. He fell asleep and for a while it was peaceful.

He yelled in pain as he woke in a cold sweat, his clones all dispersed at once sending a rush of information to his mind. He felt like a nail was just driven into his skull and as he thrashed around the pain slowly subsided, until it was just a dull throbbing. He did notice however that he did indeed know the perfect amount of chakra with which to apply to his feet if he wanted to walk up a tree. Without needing to practice it he felt as though it was already second nature for him to walk up a tree with absolutely no effort.

* * *

(Time Skip to the End of the Year)

The rest of the year went by in absolutely no time, Naruto becoming physically stronger and fit due to the weights and his own personal training, his chakra control becoming much more refined to the point where he could perform a basic Bunshin with absolutely no problems. Heck, Iruka even taught him some basic jutsu from all of the elements. Nothing too powerful, but he would be able to get by with most of the students in the academy no problem now. Naruto stayed at the bottom of the class due to the fact that he was constantly tired and unwilling to apply himself. He felt that his favorite thing to study in practical combat was Jiu Jitsu. It was an art to be used on the battlefield specializing in barring the opponent and throwing. There were many practical uses he found in it which is why he decided to learn more about it. The only thing he felt was weak in his arsenal was his genjutsu. He could counter it, but performing it was another matter altogether.

As Naruto stepped up to the testing room, Iruka eyed him with a sense of pride, a sense of accomplishment in the fact that in just a year he had made this dead last student, well… still the dead last, but a dead last student who could fight. He trained a boy who could very well turn out to be the strongest child in the village one day. As he called out the two techniques required to pass the test, Naruto performed them flawlessly and received top markings for his performance.

Naruto walked out of the room with his new headband proudly tying it around his fore head to symbolize that he was a true Konoha shinobi. Most people who didn't keep up with his progress had no idea that Naruto could properly perform the Bunshin, so his graduating came as a surprise to them.

"Damn Naruto, you actually passed what a shock!" Kiba said genuinely surprised. He was congratulated by the small group of friends he had obtained through his adventure as an academy student.

"Yeah, well it's a wonder that you passed too." Naruto retorted, not caring about how stupid it sounded just happy that he graduated.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch with each student passing. All of the kids had someone there for them except Naruto. When he saw all the kids happily celebrating with their parents, Naruto looked down at his feet. 'I may be a ninja, but I still don't have parents…' Naruto felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up and saw Iruka smiling down at him.

"Good job Naruto, you're a real ninja now." Iruka said proudly, and although Naruto probably didn't think so, Iruka felt like a true father. 'I may not have been there when he was younger, but this could be the first step to a very good relationship.' The two shared a smile until one of the parents called out for Iruka to thank him, "Well, I'll see you in a bit Naruto, training ground 71?" Iruka asked quietly.

Naruto smiled like an idiot and responded, "I wouldn't have it any other way Sensei!" He then left the academy heading off to Ichiraku's to celebrate with two of his favorite people in the world. Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-Oneechan warmly greeted him asking how he did and Naruto left no details out.

He spent an hour just conversing with the two while eating his ten bowls of complementary ramen. Seeing how the sun started to set he decided to leave for the training ground for what would probably be the last time he would train with his Sensei. He arrived just as dusk set in and found the area to be empty. 'That's weird he's usually always here before me, preparing something for my training…' Naruto's mind trailed off. He shrugged it off considering it was graduation day and he was probably swamped with the parents.

Over the past two months he developed a habit of always keeping a clone or two around him scouting to see if anything was amiss, very rarely something actually came up. Today was one of those days. His clone reported back that he saw an unknown person charging towards the area at a very high speed. Naruto knew that something was out of place, but he was just going to have to wait and see.

* * *

(Meanwhile At the Hokage Tower)

"It seems that Mizuki, a traitor to the village, has stolen the forbidden scroll, it is of utmost importance that the scroll be recovered immediately. If you see him feel free to use force to get him to comply. Remember, the safety of the entire village depends on your retrieving the scroll, now GO!" The Hokage exclaimed.

Dozens of ninja's vanished from sight. Iruka knew he was late for training with Naruto and thought that he would check up around the forest where they trained as he wanted to warn Naruto of the danger.

He dashed off hoping that Naruto would be okay. Soon after he arrived at training ground 71 he spotted Naruto just sitting there, as though he were waiting for something to happen. Iruka spotted a blur going through the trees, he thought it was Mizuki, but the figure lacked the white hair that Mizuki had. He knew that he had to do something or his student would be in a dangerous position. He charged towards Naruto at full speed, hoping to intercept the traitor. He reached Naruto just before a kunai embedded itself in his student's back. Iruka gasped as he saw the boy disappear in a puff of smoke. 'Oh thank Kami that wasn't him.'

He turned to look at the man who had entered the clearing, a man with an Anbu mask. The person bore no resemblance to Mizuki other than the hair color. As he took his mask off Iruka was just as confused. This was somebody he didn't recognize, a young man with long white hair with a headband from Oto.

"Who are you?" Iruka yelled across the clearing.

"I guess I can grant a dying man his last wish… My name is Kabuto and that is all you need to know at this point. Best me in battle and I may tell you more, but I doubt that is even a possibility." Kabuto stated with a smirk on his face.

Iruka looked at the man and sized him up. 'He's strong, that's for sure. Jounin level at least. I hope I haven't lost my old skills, I'm going to need them all for this fight…'

Iruka lunged forming hand seals along the way, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five perfect clones appeared also sprinting alongside the original.

"How predictable, I expected more from you Iruka!" Kabuto yelled in a crazed fit of laughter.

"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu**" **Iruka yelled not missing a beat. A large stream of fire erupted from his mouth encasing the spot Kabuto had been standing.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Kabuto yelled from the branches above. Before he could react however one of Iruka's clones grabbed him and tried to restrain him, but Kabuto had anticipated this and reacted with a swift elbow to the clone's chest causing it to disperse. He jumped clear over another fireball launched by Iruka throwing numerous shurikens at the man causing him to jump back.

'My god, these two are fighting on an entirely different level… There's no way I could possibly keep up with this, I would only get in Iruka's way if I tried to help…' Naruto thought while hiding behind one of the trees trying to conceal himself.

Looking back at the fight he saw Iruka going at the other man with a kunai in hand, however he was gaining hardly any ground. In the other man's hand a glowing green scalpel. Naruto saw the man make a cut at Iruka's leg, blood gushing out. Naruto winced as though he could feel his Sensei's pain wishing there was something he could do. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw another Iruka sneak up from behind the white haired man with a tag in hand. 'What could he be up to?' Naruto wondered his eyes dead set on the fight.

"Come on Iruka, I've heard so many great things about you! What happened? You're losing so much ground to a mere boy!" Kabuto stated mockingly.

'Che, he's good. There's no way I can win this one, but that clone might just be able to save the scroll. I don't want to leave Naruto alone, but it's a sacrifice I have to make… He's strong, he'll survive without me.' Iruka thought optimistically, his mind racing at a mile a minute.

Before long Kabuto grew tired of playing with the older man and with his scalpel made a mark that showed that he meant business. He slashed straight across Iruka's face opening the scar that brought the man so many tragic memories. 'God damn this, he's too good. I have to end this soon or I won't be able to survive.' The blood streaming into his mouth and onto his vest he sent a mental command to his clone that was in hiding. Iruka felt himself growing light headed soon getting more and more cuts all over his body. Kabuto still didn't feel the need to take him seriously. 'He's going to regret underestimating me soon…' Iruka thought, a devious plan crossing his mind. He mentally traced the scar across his nose, a stream of memories pulling him back into the past.

* * *

(Years Prior, a Lab near the Outskirts of Konoha)

_He skirted along numerous traps, kunai flying at him from various directions, every step he took he felt the walls moving as though another trap had been activated. He knew he had found something incredible and he felt that he could handle something like this on his own, not knowing what he had gotten himself into._

_He cringed as he narrowly avoided having his head sliced from his body by a swinging axe. Another step forward and two enormous logs came crashing together only to meet each other._

'_What the hell is it with this place, there has to be something hiding here and I'm going to find out what the hell it could be.' He thought to himself avoiding more traps._

_He finally reached a door and knew that this would be his last opportunity to request backup. Very quickly he gave his coordinates but did not wait, overconfidence clouding his mind making him think that he could take on the world right now. He stepped in and was greeted with scenes that would make your average shinobi vomit, hundreds of dead children lay strewn across these work benches and tables like discarded rags. He swallowed deeply and took another step inside, 'Heh, at least no traps here, so far so good.' He thought the lump in his throat growing larger by the second._

_As he ventured deeper into this hellhole someone had deemed a lab he found incubators full of infants who seemed to have survived these cruel experiments, some having numerous markings resembling tattoos across their backs and chests, others looking fairly normal. He knew there was something different about all of them and was trying to piece the evidence together when he heard a shrill laugh coming from directly behind him. He quickly turned around, meeting a face everyone in the village would recognize in a second. Orochimaru, one of the three legendary sannin known for his unusually quiet demeanor._

"_Well, who might you be my young guest?" Orochimaru asked very smoothly, hoping to deceive the younger man._

_Iruka foolishly letting his guard down around someone he thought he could trust responded with, "Umino Iruka. I was tasked to investigate this lab by the Hokage, are you my reinforcements?" He asked._

"_Why yes, I am your backup." Orochimaru said with a small smile on his face, but Iruka noticed it. Seeing the man tense up he tried to relax him, "Don't worry, with me here there isn't anything that could possibly harm you. I'm considered to be one of the strongest in the village, right?" _

"_Yes, you're right, I'm sorry. I'm just very nervous investigating a place where some cruel, twisted scientist would perform these fatal experiments on mere infants." Iruka said, pretending to let his guard down. Orochimaru was a good fighter, but he couldn't tell heads or tails when it came to human behavior._

_Orochimaru told him to follow his lead, putting his guard up, feigning ignorance in the light of his enemy. Leading him deeper into the lab where the children's bodies grew more grotesque to the point where some could not be identified as having ever been alive. Iruka's eyes bore holes in the back of his head, watching his every move. Not letting any killing intent out Iruka was ready for anything at this point. _

_Orochimaru had prepared certain notes for this very occasion. The plan would be to show Iruka notes that he had faked, hoping to distract the man long enough to kill him quickly and quietly without any chance to survive. He had overlooked the fact that Iruka had called for backup. _

_Iruka was thinking on an entirely different plane, he was waiting for his reinforcements to arrive, and they together would fight the former hero gone rogue. Iruka may not have been the smartest man in the world, but it was quite obvious that Orochimaru was feigning this entire charade. The fake emotions, the fake guard, the fake friendship, it was all fake. Finally Orochimaru had led him to the point where the false notes were laying hidden, digging them out he looked at them for a moment before turning to his colleague telling him to look at these papers. Iruka glanced at him, his heart racing a mile a minute, he realized that Orochimaru would probably strike as soon as his attention was on the papers._

_He took the notes from his hand and prepared a Kawarimi for the exact moment when he would surprise him. To anyone else this ploy would be obvious, but Orochimaru did not take pride in his social skills, only his shinobi skills. Orochimaru waited for the perfect moment and dashed forward with a kunai in hand expecting to end this pitiful man's life in one flick of the wrist. He didn't expect the man to disappear and turn into a dead infant. Realization coming across his face he scanned the room for where the man might possibly be hiding._

'_I just used a dead baby to save my own ass… I'm pathetic!' Iruka thought to himself, but quickly realizing he had more pressing matters currently. 'I can mourn later, now I need to hope I can stall long enough for the others arrive.' Iruka thought. Iruka was a man of confidence, but he knew his limits, and he knew fighting Orochimaru head to head was well outside his limits._

_Soon however he would be found and if he didn't do anything he would have just wasted time. He decided to make the leap towards him, knowing that simple jutsu wouldn't work against the man who prided himself in his knowledge of techniques. Kunai in hand they clashed, Orochimaru playing with the young man, his biggest mistake being his own ego. _

"_You think you can stand up to me, a living legend? What are you, a chunin?" Orochimaru asked sarcastically not expecting an actual answer._

"_Contrary to what you believe, I am actually a member of the Anbu, and I plan on stopping you here Orochimaru!" Iruka said, lying through his teeth, not expecting him to buy it._

_Orochimaru laughed in what seemed to be pity for the younger man, "You think you can actually go toe to toe with the great Orochimaru? I'll humor you and let you think that you actually stand a chance!" Orochimaru said, so confident in his own abilities that he told him his plans to toy with him._

_As Orochimaru made ground, Iruka smirked. The reinforcements should be here any second, but before that Orochimaru decided to leave him with a parting gift before killing him, slashing straight across the man's nose. His mouth filled with the taste of copper, he narrowed his eyes and spat the blood at Orochimaru._

"_What desperate tricks from a desperate man, wouldn't you say? Actually, I know the perfect job for someone like you, they say those who can't do, teach, and you my friend are a prime example of someone who cannot 'do'." Orochimaru sarcasm lacing his every word._

_Iruka let the thought cross his mind and decided that a path in teaching may fit him better. Iruka fronted a last stand as he started to push Orochimaru back with a new found vigor. Orochimaru just shook his head and said, "You're fighting a losing battle foolish boy!" _

_Iruka receiving a signal that they were on their way right now decided to voice his opinion on the man, "Sorry traitor," Emotion washing over him as he truly felt himself come face to face with a rogue, "it's actually you who is fighting a losing battle!" And as though perfectly timed, a squad of Anbu members along with the former Hokage burst through and instantly reacted to the situation. Orochimaru realizing this fatal mistake decided that it was time to escape this place he once called home. Beforehand he had constructed certain seals that allowed for him to escape with a single seal from his hand. As he made the seal and yelled, "Shushin!" He seemingly dissolved from existence._

"_Iruka, are you alright" Sarutobi asked, worrying that they may have come too late._

"_Just a few cuts Hokage-Sama, but I'll be fine… Nothing time won't heal, but I think it's about time for me to retire at the ripe old age of twenty. I think it's time I took a job up in teaching, they could use a decent teacher at the academies right now, eh Hokage-Sama?" He asked a smile coming across his face as he pictured himself living the easy life just teaching children for the rest of his days._

"_Are you sure? You're an incredible shinobi Iruka, we need someone like you to do the jobs no one else can!" The third hokage stammered, wondering what could have happened while Iruka spent time with Orochimaru._

"_I think it makes sense, why be one good shinobi when I can create hundreds of shinobi just like me?" He asked, honestly thinking that he could create a difference for the village by teaching academy students._

"_Are you sure you don't want to be a jounin instructor? I could easily arrange that!" The third said still dumb struck at his seemingly nonchalant reaction to what had just occurred._

_

* * *

_

(Training Ground 71, Present Day)

Jolting him back to reality, a deep slash across the chest and Iruka realized he could only stall for two minutes at most before he was overwhelmed by the boy. His clone made a mad dash for Kabuto while Iruka held him at bay with his kunai, not allowing him to escape. Kabuto realized the mistake he made and cursed himself for it.

"Damn, it was obvious this was going to happen! Orochimaru-Sama will kill me if this washed up old man doesn't. I have to escape with my life!" Kabuto hastily thought out loud. 'Fuck, did I just say that out loud? I screwed up here, didn't I?' Kabuto thought inside his head this time. Kabuto panicking for the first time in years wondered how his master would react when he heard about his most trusted subordinate's failure.

The clone successfully attached an explosive note to the back of the scroll forcing Kabuto to drop it and make an escape as fast as he possibly could, or be caught in the explosion. Iruka realized it was too late to save the scroll and dashed away as fast as he could with his injured leg making it to the cover of the trees. 'Fuck… I let him get the best of me and I lost the scroll without even killing him!' Iruka berated himself mentally until he realized his student was still hiding nearby waiting for some sort of explanation as to what just happened. The adrenaline wearing off, Iruka was forced to limp as he went light headed before reaching Naruto. He sat down next to the tree with Naruto's eyes wide with shock.

"What the hell just happened?" Naruto asked his eyes wide and his mouth gaping.

"Naruto, I promised I would tell you who I am, and how I got this strong. It's now or never… Naruto, I was a member of the Anbu… I decided that it was high time I got to teach the future shinobi who would protect this village with their lives. Ask the Hokage to tell you the rest of the story, there's something else I want you to do. Grant a dying man his last wish, will you?" Naruto nodded his eyes flashing as the possibilities crossed his mind. "Naruto… Don't spend the rest of your life regretting what happened here tonight, become stronger so you can protect those precious to you." Iruka said, his eyes flashing in and out of the realm of the living.

"No. NO! NO! You're the closest thing I have to a friend! The closest thing I have to a father, and if you die who will that leave me with? Don't abandon me; look, help will be here soon!" Naruto said, denial filling his entire being.

Iruka smiled softly, "I'm sorry, I can't see you grow up… Please, you can create a new life, it's going to be alright, just keep going and you'll be fine. I- I think this is it Naruto." A single tear rolled down the man's cheek before his eyes closed for the last time.

"No… You had to go and die on me, huh? You couldn't stay with me until the very end, could you?" Naruto asked tears streaming down his cheeks as the first person he ever considered a father closed his eyes for the last time… 'Orochimaru… you will die, I swear it…' Naruto thought to himself as he stared into the dead man's eyes, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.

* * *

A/N – Yeah yeah, I know, my writing is a bit awkward and I don't write emotional scenes very well, but do review and tell me how I can improve.

Do tell me what you found original, unoriginal; feel free to contribute ideas, because after all, I'm still human.

Seriously though, be honest. I want to hear how I can fix any problems I may have. If I have certain mechanical errors, do point them out and I will definitely fix them for future readers. In advance, thanks for the alerts, reviews, favorites, favorite authors and whatnot. I appreciate every hit I get and I cherish them.

Oh, definitely tell me how I can fix my awful writing… As always, thanks for reading!

Honestly though, do give me constructive criticism as to how I can improve!

Thanks again!

Read and Review!


	2. The Meeting

Thank you to all two of you who reviewed, I really appreciate every hit, visit, review, favorite and alert.

CW – I know that I may have been a bit misleading, but what I was trying to say is that Iruka was being looked at as a potential candidate in the eyes of those who were picturing long term growth. At the time he was still just an Anbu, just an Anbu member who had progressed faster than others and didn't stop until the day he met Orochimaru. Take Kakashi for example, he became a genin at the age of 6 and a chunin at what, 7? If he had kept progressing at that rate he would have been able to become the Hokage by… say, twenty, but since he didn't keep progressing at that rate he didn't become Hokage. The parallel I'm trying to draw here is a 7 year old Kakashi to an approximately 20 year old Iruka, sorry if I only made you more confused with this short wall of text explaining my thought process. Oh and I'm sorry about Iruka's death, I just felt like it needed to be done, maybe not in the first chapter, but I felt it really rounded things off quite well. Hope that helped clear up any other questions you may have had. Thanks for the review, I appreciate it.

Kevin – Yeah, for sure it won't become regular, only when it has to be done. Thanks for the review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto you silly goose!

* * *

Kabuto hastily retreating through the forest smiled to himself as he had escaped with more than just his life. That washed out old loser had never expected a basic Kawarimi to counter what he felt was a plan worthy of the gods. He had escaped with the scroll and the life of a loyal Konoha shinobi. Today was a good day in his mind. He was quite sure that Orochimaru would be pleased by his actions. The only problem with this was the Jinchuriki, Naruto. He saw too much and Kabuto knew that he would inform Konoha that Orochimaru's subordinate had escaped. 'This may not be a perfect situation, but it's salvageable' Kabuto thought looking at the scroll in his hands. Picking up speed as he reached the borders of the Land of Fire, he decided that this was going to be a good day.

* * *

(Konoha)

Naruto stood in the Hokage's office, still unable to process what had happened that night. The man he had grown to love as a father died before him and left him alone in the world. The old man's soft and soothing voice lulled him back to reality,

"Naruto, can you please tell me what happened tonight?" He asked not trying to rush the boy, "If you don't feel good, that's okay, and we can talk later. Are you okay with telling me about how Iruka… Passed?" The Third asked a genuine look of concern on his face.

Naruto looked up and swallowed back anything he may have been holding and started speaking, "Well, he was fighting this guy who said he worked for some guy called Orochimaru. It's a complete jumble right now, I'm sorry. All I remember is that it was…" As much as it pained him to admit it, "Kind of one sided. It was as though the guy with white hair was just playing, with Sensei. He seemed to have no trouble at all until Iruka got an explosive tag on the scroll." Naruto ended an aloof look still in his eyes as though he were in deep contemplation.

'Orochimaru… This is not good… He has the forbidden scroll… I am in way too deep right now.' Sarutobi thought to himself while looking at Naruto, hoping to find some emotion in the boy, if only to let him know that he wasn't completely broken. He saw enough emotions to know that the boy was feeling something, if not everything. "Go home Naruto, you have enough on your plate right now, get some rest and when you're feeling better come talk to me. If you're feeling up to it, tomorrow is the day they assign teams for the fresh genin. Go to the academy and the rest will fall into place, alright Naruto?" The Hokage asked, hoping Naruto would return to his normal self with time.

"There is one thing I want to ask you… Tell me the full story of Iruka's life, he told me to ask you that." Naruto asked quietly.

"Naruto, you're in no condition to be here for too long, I will tell you soon. That much I can assure you, but now is not the time. Understand?" The hokage asked softly.

Without a word Naruto just nodded and walked out of the office, taking his time to stroll the streets never taking his eyes off his feet. 'What happened…? How did Iruka die…? He was so strong, but just like that, that bastard killed him…' Naruto thought, his mind oozing with questions, as he looked up he remembered the night that Iruka told him about the Kyuubi, how it looked so much like this one. A beautiful night, but Naruto remembered how angry he was when he found out about his past. 'I guess in the long run that technically did help me, and as some might say, everything seems to happen for a reason.' Naruto thought rationally, calming down slowly. 'It seems that things in my life have a way of looking like curses, but really helping me in the end… I wonder if this could be one of those situations.' Naruto thought, trying to salvage and rationalize the predicament he found himself to be trapped in. 'No matter what, I know that I need to be stronger, I can't let someone close to me die like that. As it stands I would have died in a second… I guess there really will always be someone better than me, but right now I have to be able to measure up to this Orochimaru, and I guess that starts with finding out about who he is…' Naruto thought.

"Kage Bunshin" Naruto muttered as two clones puffed into existence. He gave them orders to go to two different libraries and to look up anything they could find about any Orochimaru's. He grew tired of his wandering the streets and returned to his apartment where he retired for the night. Before returning to bed, he noticed that his clones were still in existence and wondered how much information there could be on this person. 'That's odd, they usually finish in an hour or two… Who could he be?' Naruto wondered to himself as he turned in for the night, hoping that the morning would shed some light on the mysterious man.

* * *

(The Next Morning)

Naruto woke up with a throbbing headache, signifying that his clones had found more than he expected, enough to bring him a massive migraine. 'Damn, it usually takes at least 5 scrolls for me to be in this much pain; it must be a side effect from everything that happened last night.' Naruto thought, knowing that last night's proceedings weren't just a part of some awful nightmare.

Realizing he was late and didn't have much time before his team was announced. Deciding that he didn't honestly care if he was late, he didn't focus on watching where he was going and took a slow stroll. 'So, Orochimaru is…' As his mind trailed off, leaving it all to his memories.

A once renowned Konoha shinobi, the student of the third hokage, and one of the three legendary sannin. 'Well, that's an odd start; I wouldn't have guessed that…' Naruto thought to himself.

Hailed as one of the greatest shinobi that Konoha has ever produced he has recently become a missing ninja. He defected from Konoha after being found out to have been performing genetic experiments illegally. No further information was disclosed. 'What the hell do they mean by genetic experiments?' Naruto thought confused. The memories started to pass by as he studied the man who was the reason for his sensei's untimely death.

'He will die and that's all there is to it, but I'm so weak right now… This is going to be tough without Sensei…' Naruto thought glumly, but keeping his composure as he knew that crying would solve nothing.

He walked into class to be greeted by the sight of a new teacher. He had short, black hair that spiked up and had a cigarette in his mouth. He had an air of confidence that said to Naruto that he knew how to fight. "You're late, sit down." He said.

Naruto made his way back to his usual corner as all the kids quieted down seeing as how the replacement had taken a sheet of paper out that held the fate of all these fresh genin.

"Ehem." He cleared his throat, gathering the attention of anyone who hadn't already been eagerly listening.

"Alright, I'm going to call out the members of each squad. These teammates will be your lifeline. Learn to work with them, learn to live with them, and above all learn to trust them. Your life is their life. Your squad may be composed of 3 individuals and a sensei, but you must act as though you are one living creature. Now that that's done, let's get to the teams." He said scanning the list before calling them out. As he started speaking Naruto decided that he would create a schedule with which he could allocate certain times of the day for his clones to train. He kept an ear out waiting for his own name to be called out.

'So, I guess I'll just stick to the same schedule. Maybe I'll kick it up a bit, because right now I have to be stronger. Tonight I'll experiment and see how many I can put out for a full night without getting tired. Hopefully we won't do anything too tiring tomorrow, because tonight is going to be' He was cut off in the middle when he heard his name.

"And Uzumaki Naruto will make up team 7 under Hatake Kakashi." The man stated before quickly moving on the next team. 'They have no idea what they're in for.' As he watched the pink haired girl perform a small impromptu victory dance, while the other two just looked at her.

'Am I on her team?' Naruto thought, hoping the answer was no. Sasuke remained as emotionless as ever as he stared straight ahead, revenge being the only thing on his mind.

Naruto watched as many instructors came through the door taking their teams away to get to know each other better. Even the substitute teacher had grabbed three of the students and left, leaving Naruto alone with Sasuke and Sakura. About two hours had passed before Naruto decided that he was bored. Having mapped out his schedule, he decided to try to spark a conversation. Seeing as how they would be teammates he felt it would be necessary to be able to talk to them.

"So, do you guys know anything about this Hatake Kakashi?" Naruto asked, honestly wondering if they knew any more than he did.

Sakura looked at him with an irritated look in her eyes, "All I know is that he's one late son of a b," but before she could finish she was cut off by the sound of the door sliding open.

"Hello," but he looked up a moment too soon as an eraser fell directly on top of his face, causing the dust to disperse, leaving him coughing. "I was thinking about being nice to you little punks, but that little stunt makes me want to kill you!" He said feigning anger, "I'll see you on the roof!" He said lightheartedly, as though trying to scare the students into thinking he was a bit on the crazy side, which for the most part worked.

'What the hell is wrong with this guy… It was just a prank. Oh well, I'll have to show him that I mean business. I hope he isn't some cop out bastard who doesn't actually teach us anything…' Naruto thought, optimistically hoping that his teacher would be at least somewhat like Iruka. Naruto's thoughts drifted back to his now dead teacher.

'I hope Sasuke thinks I'm cool, but god damn I feel like fainting right now.' Sakura thought not going too much past the fact that she wanted Sasuke to like her.

'If he can make me stronger then I can respect him. Nothing will stand in my way. That much is a fact.' Sasuke thought broodingly to himself.

As they made their way up to the roof they noticed the leaves swirling in the wind and in a poof of smoke, the man with white hair had appeared standing on the railing. Deciding that was too flashy, he sat down and motioned for the three of them to take seats across from him on the steps.

"So, since we're a team now, we might as well get to know each other. That's the way every team should start. Well, how about we talk about our personalities. Tell me what your name is, your interests, your hobbies, your goals, what you dislike and anything else you may want me to know about." Kakashi stated. "How about you start Pinky?" Kakashi ordered more so than asked.

"Well," Sakura started, "why don't you start so that I can get a feel for how I should start my monologue?" She asked, trying to outwit her Sensei.

"Sure, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I am interested in quite a few things, my hobbies? Oh, you know this and that. I live for some things; I don't live for other things…" Trailing off, "You know the usual. I dislike some things, but not too much. And really, that's all there is to me. My life has been an odd one, and all I can tell you is that you should never expect anything to be quite as easy as you expect it to be." He finished, looking up at the clouds above.

* * *

(Years ago)

_He held her limp, lifeless body in his arms as he had failed to fulfill his best friend's dying wish. _

_She had been lost on a simple reconnaissance mission, nothing was supposed to happen, it was supposed to be a simple mission, maybe some bandits, but everything had gone straight to hell. _

_They had met some unexpected problems in the form of some pesky bandits, but they had been dealt with rather quickly as their squad was of a relatively high skill level. The bandits had just been a distraction though, for when they had taken care of the bandits they were ambushed by more people that seemed to be bandits. Underestimating them, they let their confidence get the best of them. They were horribly wrong._

_They were shinobi of at least jounin rank each. They were outnumbered and outgunned. They had pulled a last moment ditch effort; Kakashi pushing his limits by performing Chidori's one after another, dropping these shinobi left and right. Rin healing those who were wounded, and those uninjured helping Kakashi fend off the ruthless ninja, and with his comrades at his side they pushed back the skilled shinobi. They were powerful individual shinobi, all relatively well known, but the Konoha shinobi were a squad and had the teamwork to go with it, unlike the missing-nin. With well coordinated attacks, they picked them off one at a time, but Kakashi had gotten caught up in the moment and didn't notice the three shinobi charging towards his blind side. Rin knew what was about to happen, and in a split second took one of the hits meant for Kakashi. The other nicking his mouth, but not too deep, and the third was picked off._

"_Rin, why did you take that for me?" He asked, emotions swelling up for the first time since the death of his best friend. He knew that her cut was deep, and since she was the designated medical ninja, they had no way of healing her. "You could have healed me had he gotten me, why did you do that? Why, damn it, WHY?" Kakashi yelled at her, tears streaming down the young man's face._

"_I-It was going straight for your heart. There was no way you would have lived after that, trust me I would know…" She said sarcastically, coughing up blood._

"_Don't die… Please, don't die… I don't know what I'll do if I lose you…" Kakashi quietly whispered, as he cradled her body in his arms._

"_Keep living Kakashi, find new people to protect, and never lose hope because there will always be light near a shadow…" Rin stated, her voice becoming increasingly erratic and quiet._

"_I'm sorry…" He choked out._

"_Don't be…" She smiled at him and closed her eyes for the final time._

_He held her limp, lifeless body in his arms as he had failed to fulfill his best friend's dying wish. _

'_I'm sorry Obito… I failed you…' Kakashi thought as he quietly sobbed._

_

* * *

_

(Present Day)

As he looked back down, he noticed his students were staring at him. "What?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"You've been staring at the sky for about a minute sensei, something wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Sorry, I just got lost on the road of life… Well, since that's out of the way and you know how I want you to introduce yourselves, how about you start now Pinky?" He asked, his eyes still aloof.

Sakura shook her head and hoped that this wasn't a habit of the man, "Well, my name is Haruno Sakura, my interests include studying and Sasuke-kun, my goal is to," she noticeably glanced to her side where Sasuke sat. "Well, my goal isn't important; I dislike a lot of things like Ino, and people who think they're better than everyone else!" She said the last part, showing how much she truly knew about Sasuke.

Deciding that these answers weren't sufficient, he decided to ask them to add on one more part to their answer, "Good, but I have one more question, where do you see yourself with your shinobi career years from now?" He asked, hoping that the girl had at least some sort of goal in the shinobi world. If not then he would have to hammer it into her that being a shinobi wasn't fun and games.

"So, finish your answer along with the last part." Kakashi said, staring past the students, as though eyeing something behind them.

"Oh, uh. Where do I see myself years from now? I, uh, haven't thought that far ahead yet… I would like to progress, but I don't know how much really…" Sakura said without any confidence.

Kakashi shook his head, "Well, just remember you have to put lots of effort into your training if you want to honestly become a true shinobi, because as it stands right now, in my eyes you're still just academy students.

Sakura nodded, her sensei wasn't intimidating, but he held an air around him that they knew meant that he could be whatever he wanted to be, whenever he wanted to be it.

"Now that we're done with that, next up is you Spiky." Kakashi said, having fun making these pet names up.

"Well, to start, my name is Uzumaki Naruto and I am interested in ramen, training, reading, and manga. I dislike, as Sakura said, people who are over confident, curry, and people who expect things to happen for them. My goal is to one day become stronger than everyone in the village and be recognized as the Hokage. If that doesn't answer your question about where I see myself in these years to come, then I don't know what will." Naruto stated a smile on his face.

'Oho, Naruto actually has goals and a way to go about it. That's a step up from Sakura. The hokage, eh? I wonder if I can help. He likes to train and hates people who wait for opportunities rather than making opportunities… I can tell, he is going to be one hell of a shinobi… If he passes.' Kakashi thought to himself, a cruel grin on his face, but no one could see it through his mask. They had no idea what was in store for them tomorrow.

Looking back to his students he said, "Alright, you're up next Duck Butt Head." Kakashi said, the insult in his mind both witty and effective.

Sasuke just cocked his head at him and sighed. 'This guy's an idiot…'

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke; I am interested in climbing the ranks of shinobi and becoming stronger. My goal is to one day kill someone. My hobbies include training, and my dislikes include said person and fan girls." Sasuke finished.

Sakura was already blushing at how cool her hero had sounded. 'Wow, his goal is to kill someone, that's so cool!' She thought her face growing redder with each passing moment.

'Why am I not surprised? God damn it, this is going to be a bit tougher than I had hoped. Why can't he just be a normal little boy, he has to obsess over getting revenge, huh?' Kakashi thought, wondering how he would train the last Uchiha.

"Well, since that didn't take nearly as long as I had hoped, how about we go get some dinner, sound good _team_?" He put emphasis on the word team, as though hoping that they would understand that this was an order, not a question.

Naruto being a lover of ramen asked, "Where to, Ichiraku's? They serve the best ramen in the village hands down." Naruto said mere seconds after the words had left his sensei's mouth.

A bead of sweat raced down Kakashi's head in an almost comic fashion. "Eh, sure why not. Any objections team?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura nodded her head, not really caring about where they went, so long as she sat next to Sasuke. Sasuke didn't say anything and just kept walking along thinking of his own ways to kill his older brother.

Naruto, deciding that this was too boring, challenged his sensei, "Oi, Kakashi-sensei, how about we race to see who has to pay the bill for Ichiraku's?" Naruto asked, his smile spread cheek to cheek.

Kakashi looked at the boy with a curious look, "Well, I don't see why not Naruto." The man said underestimating the boy's speed and vicious appetite for ramen.

"Ready… Set…. GO!" Naruto seemingly teleported away, leaving his teammates and sensei standing there questioning what just happened.

"Oh crap!" Kakashi yelled as he realized that the boy was a hustler. 'Crap crap crap! If what I've heard about this kid is right, he can down upwards of 30 ramen bowls at a time.' He thought hoping that the boy was slower than he had thought.

He teleported away, hoping to catch the freak of nature. As he dashed along the roof tops of Konoha hoping to spot the boy, the only things he caught were passing glances from people who thought he was crazy. For the first time in a while he had started to panic. 'How the hell can that kid go that fast?' He thought, and to anyone watching him it seemed like he was a mad man late for his wedding.

When he finally arrived, he felt as though it had taken him hours, although in reality it took him no more than a minute.

He walked into the stand and saw Naruto already three bowls in. "I got about 2 dozen more on the way Sensei!" Naruto spat out with his mouth full.

"Damn it Naruto, hustling is wrong and you shouldn't do it! You could get yourself in a lot of trouble that way!" Kakashi scolded, hoping the boy would regret his action enough to pay for his share of the meal.

"It's only bad if you bet the wrong people the wrong things. This one is all you sensei. No way you're weaseling your way out of this one." Naruto stated, a large grin on his face.

The other two walked in to see that Kakashi was sitting with his head on the table, and Naruto downing another bowl.

"Seven... Eight... Nine..." Naruto counted as he gobbled down the contents of the bowl.

"You can't be serious, how are you still alive damn it?" Kakashi yelled at him hoping the boy would pass out, hoping for something that would get him out of this situation.

'He's just like Obito and Minato. He's just like those two, the determination and will power of Minato, the bottomless pit that he calls a stomach and sense of humor like Obito... God I miss those two, but I may very well be able to find new precious people to protect in this team. He stared at the three of them who were sitting and talking, even Sasuke had decided that it was no use to stay silent.

"So, you like to train, right Naruto? What kind of methods do you use?" He asked curiously, wondering if he could learn something from his teammate.

'Perfect, they can talk to each other and Sasuke is able to swallow some of his pride to take advice and tips from others. This might just work out after all...' The white haired man thought as he watched the three talk.

"Well, for starters I..." Naruto remembered that he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about his training method because it was forbidden. "Well, I do some weight training and I do chakra control mainly. Those two are things I really need to work on, jutsu and techniques can come in later, that's something I found to be especially true, but I could really use a sparring partner. How about we train together sometime?" Naruto asked, getting the usually cold boy to warm up to him.

"Wow, sure we can train together some time." Sasuke said, a genuine look of surprise on his face. No one had ever wanted to train with him, just fawn over him. This was a first and he felt different than usual. He felt almost... Happy, an emotion he hadn't felt in quite some time. Deciding that this was something he wanted more of, he asked Sakura to join them.

Not missing a beat she agreed whole heartedly. 'A chance to hang out with Sasuke-kun? No doubt I'll be there!' Sakura thought to herself as she happily plotted out strategies to make Sasuke fall for her.

'I may regret that invitation soon... I don't think honestly wants to train...' Sasuke thought as he started into his second bowl. Unknown to many he held a deep affection for ramen, not unlike Naruto. He looked over at Naruto and saw that he was already through three stacks of bowls, each piled 12 high.

"Alright Naruto, seriously, are you using some sort of jutsu to eat that much, or are you just not human?" Sasuke asked, half serious half jokingly.

"Well, that's a question I have yet to find an answer to..." Naruto stated, trailing off. 'How can I eat this much without... Well dying?' He thought to himself curiously.

'They're all starting to grow on me... Failing them is going to be so tough... I hope I don't have to, but I don't want to give an undeserving group of kids the rank of shinobi... This is going to be really tough.' Kakashi thought to himself.

"Well, I have some business to take care of, so I'll be taking my leave now. Oh, and meet me at Training Ground 37 tomorrow morning at six A.M." And with that, he disappeared in a poof of smoke, leaving his three students to pay the tab.

"Did he just leave us with the tab? That son of a bitch!" Naruto exclaimed. 'I'll kill him... He's going to regret that tomorrow...' He thought to himself.

"Well, that was enlightening. Oh, look at the time, I think I left my hair curler on at home!" Naruto dashed away as fast as he could, escaping before they could catch him with the bill. 'Hehe, suckers!' He thought happily.

"God damn it... We just got screwed, didn't we?" Sasuke asked Sakura. All she could do was nod her head in disbelief.

Sasuke stood up in anger, "what kind of people would leave us two with the bill!" He yelled and slammed his hands down on the table, which startled Sakura. In her shock, he made his way out of the stand and took to the roofs, evading the bill and leaving Sakura alone.

The owner was staring at her with a smile on her face and a frying pan in hand. "I'll take it that you have the money to pay for... 53 bowls of ramen?" He asked with a false smile on his face.

"... God damn it..."

* * *

Naruto charged through the streets, sending one clone to the library, and sending an entire army of them to different training grounds in pairs. Tonight was going to be combat experience.

As his clone arrived at the library, he looked up 'Hatake Kakashi'. Not nearly as many scrolls were found on him as Orochimaru, but an abnormally large amount came up. 'Damn, this is going to be a lot of reading for just one clone. With that he hit the books and the rest of the night flew by.

The original Naruto was doing physical conditioning at his apartment, mulling over what had happened today. The usually stoic Sasuke had warmed up and opened himself to his new teammates. He wondered how Sasuke and Sakura fared with the bill after he left them alone. 'They hate me right now, I am so sure of that.' He thought with a foxy grin on his face.

* * *

Sasuke stood in his family training ground alone. He stared ahead as he recalled the day's events with a small smile. 'Friends, eh? It's not like Itachi is going anywhere, and maybe I can learn a thing or two from these people...'

'I wonder how Sakura handled that... I should feel bad, shouldn't I?' He thought with a hint of remorse.

"Oh well, no harm done!" Sasuke said happily for the first time in years.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the memorial stone, his eyes shifting to a name known by many. A name he would always remember, and a name that he didn't often look to for guidance. Hatake Sakumo. Konoha's White Fang.

The memories he had of his father were vivid. The man was his role model, his idol, and above all his father.

* * *

(Years Ago)

_A young boy no more than 5 years old was seen being tossed up by his father, who was congratulating him for graduating from the academy. _

"_You did it son, you're a shinobi now!" The man yelled happily._

"_I couldn't have done it without you, dad!" The boy yelled back just happily. "This is going to be so great dad, I can be just like you now!" _

"_Yeah son, some day you'll be just as strong as me!" He enthusiastically exclaimed._

_

* * *

_

_(One Year Later)_

_The same boy walked out of the building sporting his brand new chunin vest. His father was nowhere to be found. After a failed mission where he decided to save the lives of his teammates rather than completing the mission. In a shinobi village, this was looked at as a complete failure, and there was no excuse for what he did. He fell into a deep depression and no one had thought of him as Konoha's White Fang, just the father of a rising shinobi. He was looked at with pity, contempt, and sympathy. He had never returned to his former self._

_'Dad, if only you could see me right now...' Kakashi stated, his mind wandering to his now depressed father._

_Kakashi continued to climb the ranks of the konoha shinobi. His father remained in a deep depression until he decided to end it all. He was a failure in his own mind, and he deserved absolutely nothing for anybody. The people he had saved had resented him for it, for taking away their chance to be a part of a Konoha history. Kakashi was still a young boy, and his father's personality change had affected him in multiple ways. He still held that faint, optimistic hope that his father would go back to who he once was._

_

* * *

_

_(Months Later)_

_Kakashi stared at the grave, hours after the rest had left. His father was dead. The man who had taught him everything there was to be about shinobi had killed himself. _

_'He's dead.' Kakashi thought morbidly._

_Kakashi had never been the same shinobi. Before he was like his father, light hearted and kind, but after his death he decided that it was time that he lived the strict life of a shinobi, he turned off all of his emotions and became a cold killing machine. It wasn't until he met his team that he found new precious people to live for, but they had all been ripped from his life as well._

_

* * *

_

(Present Day)

'Father, Obito, Rin, Minato... I think it's time that I started living for others again, it's what you all would want, right?' He thought to himself as he stared at the stone.

He watched the stone for the rest of the night, thinking about the new people that may become his new precious people. 'This time, I won't let your names end up on this stone... I promise.' He thought to himself as the night faded away.

* * *

A/N – Voila, chapter 2! I'm glad I got 2 reviews because two is better than none, but I do hope for some more feedback from this chapter. The bell test will probably span all of next chapter and I am aiming for about 6,000 words. I know Sasuke isn't usually like this, but I kind of want him to be… Not too emo. He won't be all I love everyone, but he won't be as broody as usual. Please tell me what you think. Point out inconsistencies I may have, those will help make my writing better. Thanks for reading!

Leave reviews, add me to your favorites, your alerts, anything! I hope you enjoyed, tell me what I can do to make my writing better.

Next chapter should be out within a week, maybe sooner. Have a good weekend!

Oh and one more thing, if anyone has any ideas on what the title on the story should or could be, do tell me, I know this is a bland title, but I can't think of anything else, so share your ideas!


	3. The Bell Test

Thanks for the review Rachit, Ryuazen, Kevin, and UNKNOWN!

Thanks for being my first French reader Demenciae, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Tempest86: Wow, thanks for the review, honestly it's these kinds of reviews that keep me going and make me want to write more. I don't plan on letting you down with the bell test, the chunin exams and the wave mission. Wow, Promise of a Lifetime has one hell of a ring to it, I appreciate the title!

Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto.

XxX

Naruto awoke to the blaring of his alarm clock. He got up and shook his head, feeling incredibly dizzy he decided to take a seat for a moment. 'God damn, the last time I was this tired was the first time I did this training… This'll be a tough training regiment to keep up…' He thought to himself, shaking his head.

He turned his head towards the clock, "9:15? Oh shit, I'm over 3 hours late!" He yelled as he scrambled out the door. 'Crap, no time to eat or get ready. I'll go over what I read about sensei later, but for right now I just need to focus on getting to training ground…' He lost track of his thoughts for a moment, but quickly regained them, '37, that's it!' He rushed his way towards the area as fast as he could with his tired limbs and weights, hoping he wasn't too late.

When he arrived, he saw something he didn't expect. His two teammates were just sleeping there. Doing nothing else, just sleeping. Curiously, he shook Sasuke awake and asked him, "What the hell? Why are you two sleeping? Where's sensei?"

"That piece of crap called us here at 6 in the morning and decided to leave us here. He hasn't shown up yet. Where the hell have you been?" Sasuke asked, his eyes threatening to drop back into the land of sleep.

"Me? I…" Not wanting to embarrassed, Naruto completely lied, "got lost… Yeah, I got lost on my way here."

Sasuke suddenly smiled. "Huh, why are you smiling?" Naruto asked, but before he could receive an answer, Sakura had pummeled him into the ground, a vein throbbing in her head.

"You piece of crap, you left me with the bill last night? Do you know how much money 53 bowls of ramen costs? It costs a LOT, OKAY?" Sakura yelled, repeatedly punching Naruto's skull into the ground, no doubt in her mind that she was murdering the boy's brain cells.

"Well, actually I do know how much it costs, to be precise it costs," he was cut off by the sound of her fist colliding with his face.

"That was rhetorical you smart ass!" Sakura yelled, not calming down the least bit.

It was the perfect time for him to appear. He walked onto the training grounds reading a small orange book that Naruto recognized immediately, "Icha Icha Paradise? Really?" He asked, almost disappointed by his sensei's choice in literature.

"I'm not even going to ask why you know about these books Naruto…" Kakashi said, curious at the boy's upbringing.

Sakura turned to him with an amount of killing intent he hadn't felt in years. He laughed nervously and tried to play it off, "Haha, hey Sakura, so how was dinner?" Hoping that she wasn't angry, he soon realized that he was in for a world of hurt.

"Oh you know… Expensive, but I'm glad that I had three nice men with me who were willing to help pay the bill, and not leave it all on one thirteen year old girl." She said sarcastically with an evil grin on her face.

"That's good to know…" He started talking, while slowly backing away, hoping he could out run the girl. Deciding that it was time he made a move, he broke away and started running, only to be seen by another Sakura, panic taking over him he stumbled backwards before realizing that it was only a basic Bunshin, but by the time he had realized this it had been too late.

A fist descended upon his unprotected skull, smashing it into the ground. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to fight his way out of this one, he used a Kawarimi and switched himself with a log. As he looked down from the tree, he saw the log shatter as the girl thrust her arm into the ground another time.

'God damn, I sense another Tsunade coming around… Now if I can just get her to focus on training, she could really become a powerhouse…' Kakashi mused as he watched the onslaught on the poor log.

He performed the hand seals to a genjutsu that would, if all went well, put her into a deep sleep. He got the technique off and saw Sakura stare into his eyes from over 100 feet away, and it felt as though she were staring into his soul.

He saw her mouth 'You will die.' He shuddered, hoping that day would never come. They stared into each other's eyes for three more seconds before she passed out.

He made his way down from the tree, carefully avoiding the girl so that he wouldn't wake her up. Once he had made some distance between the girl and himself, he decided that it was time to start the test.

"Where have you been Sensei?" Naruto asked quietly, hoping not to disturb the sleeping beast.

"I was stuck helping an old lady cross the road Naruto." He whispered back. Naruto nodded, as though that was a sufficient answer. Sasuke could only watch in confusion as these two knuckle heads exchanged excuses for being late.

"Well, now that that's over with, let's get to the test. Whoever wakes up Sakura gets extra points!" Kakashi exclaimed enthusiastically, hoping one of his students would take the bait.

They both just looked at him, "Look, you can poke her with a shuriken or something, just get her awake, okay!" He barked at them.

The two looked at each others, held their fists up as though to signify the beginning of a fight, then perfectly synchronized, "Jan, Ken, Pon!" Naruto threw out the sign for rock and Sasuke threw out the sign for scissors.

"God damn it…" Sasuke sighed.

"Hehe, you earned it! Good luck, you're going to need it!" Naruto said happily, and turned around and then proceeded to high five Kakashi.

Sasuke walked up to the girl and walked around her for a bit, and as much as it pained him to say it, he thought of the perfect way to wake her up without taking a beating. He bent down towards her and whispered in her ear, "Sakura-chan, if you wake up and don't hurt any of us, I'll give you a big hug." Wincing as he shuddered at the thought of it, he saw the girl's eyes shoot open.

Her arms latched around him like a baby monkey latching to its mother. She waited for his response and when she realized it wasn't going to come she released waves of killing intent, sensing this and realizing he was the closest thing to her he held her like a baby. 'I hate those two, after Itachi I think I'll have to get my revenge on them.' He thought angrily to himself as he picked the girl up and started walking back to the group with a look of pure hatred on his face.

'You two will die.' He mouthed to them as the two arrived back in the group.

Kakashi had a nervous smile on his face, "Well, now that that's out of the way, let's get down to the real test!"

"So what kind of test are we talking about?" Naruto asked, wondering what the scarecrow had in store for his new team.

"Well, we're going to be performing a basic field drill, your goal for today will be to take a bell from me. Whoever gets a bell will pass and those who don't will fail. The catch is that there are three of you and only two bells. This means that one of you will fail no matter what. The test will run until noon." He said with an emotionless look on his face. Whatever sense of humor he had before was gone now, this was the real deal.

The three members of the team looked at each other with looks of confusion. It was every man for himself out here, or at least that's what they believed at the time.

'That's weird; don't we usually have to operate in squads of three? There's probably another catch to all this somewhere…' Naruto thought to himself, but he dismissed these thoughts and paid attention to his teacher.

"You must come at me with the intent to kill if you want to even come close to passing this exam, okay? Everyone understand the rules?" The three of them nodded, "alright then, let's start NOW!"

Sasuke and Sakura had dashed for the cover of the trees, trying to scout their sensei and see his skills. Naruto however stayed behind. He decided the best way to gauge someone was in direct combat.

"Not your best move Naruto, I was hoping you would be a little bit more… subtle. Kakashi stated, looking at the boy curiously.

"The Hokage's got to be able to take down the strongest person in any given room, not kill him silently in his sleep!" Naruto said back to the man.

"I understand that, but don't you think that when you're outgunned you should try to change the situation to your advantage?" Kakashi said, questioning the boy's logic.

"True, but when you plan to be the very best I can never be outgunned!" Naruto retorted.

Kakashi just looked at him, "I… I guess you're right, but right now you are outgunned, so what are you going to do?" He asked wondering how the boy would go about it. 'There's absolutely no way he's going to just fight me, I mean come on… really?' Kakashi thought to himself hoping that he was wrong and that the boy would go hiding in the trees.

"So, you're dead set on fighting me? Really? Darn, I was beginning to like you; I guess I have to fight you then." Kakashi said, opening his book to a certain page and giggling. "Oh Jiraiya-sama, you never let me down!"

'God damn, first Iruka now Kakashi? I wonder if I'll ever get a sensei that isn't a complete pervert.' Naruto thought to himself as he decided that if he was going to charge that he would do it now.

Naruto charged at speeds that surprised Kakashi, but not so fast that he couldn't react. 'Hm, not bad, he has some potential after all…'

Naruto threw a roundhouse punch at the man; it was quickly dodged with a back step. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to impress me Naruto." Kakashi said.

In an instant, Kakashi was behind Naruto, crouched down he used one of his most devastating jutsu, "1000 Years of PAIN!"

Kakashi was about to poke Naruto before he was caught in what seemed like a full Nelson.

"What the hell?" Kakashi asked before being punched in the face by Naruto.

"No kawarimi for you! I have your hands so you're not going anywhere!" Naruto yelled happily.

'Shit, I underestimated this little punk… he's not bad…' Kakashi thought before doing a front flip, hitting Naruto with Naruto. They both dispersed in a cloud of smoke. 'So he really is just observing my skills, not bad Naruto, but you'll have to do better than that.' Feeling as though he had been challenged by his student, he decided a little spar wouldn't hurt him… too much.

Kakashi threw a number of shuriken at the spot Naruto had been hiding, only for them to hit a log. His voice flew out from the trees surrounding him, "I'm watching you Kakashi." Then from another area altogether, "You don't know where I am."

"So, you're using clones to try to distract me while the real you goes for the bell?" Kakashi asked, performing a high jump. A curious act to most, but to a shinobi a wise move. Two hands shot out of the ground, grasping at thin air.

" **Doton Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu**, eh? Not bad, but you need to remember, I am a jonin, these simple tricks won't work on me Naruto!" Kakashi stated, almost stepping on Naruto's hands as he made his way back down. 'Why the hell does an academy student know that? Something's not right…' Kakashi thought to himself.

Sasuke and Sakura watched from their hiding positions wondering what had happened. 'Since when could Naruto do something like that?' They both thought to themselves.

"Not bad Kakashi, but if you think that's all I have for you then you're sorely mistaken!" The eerie voice echoed out across the clearing.

Kakashi looked around and saw Naruto charging him. They exchanged blows for a while, Kakashi still reading his beloved Icha Icha Paradise. 'He is really good! This is not your usual academy student; something has got to be up!' Kakashi thought to himself while fending off the blows of a blood thirsty thirteen year old. Deciding that he didn't want to fight with a clone, he quickly made a kick for Naruto's shins. When they collided he felt as though he had kicked a rock, and the Naruto didn't disperse, he just smiled.

"Not bad at all Naruto!" Kakashi said, noticing a number of Naruto clones appear on the outskirts of the training ground, but not making any direct movements. At that very moment a pair of hands shot up out of the ground and latched onto his ankles.

"Gotcha sensei!" Naruto exclaimed happily, and he jumped away into the trees. A few of the clones started performing hand seals at a rapid speed. 'The kid thinks he has me, eh? I'll let him keep believing that…' Kakashi thought with a smile on his face.

"Katon: Goukakkyu No Jutsu!" One clone yelled. A large burst of flames shot out of his mouth approaching the scarecrow at alarming speeds.

"Raiton: Raikou Tama!" Another shouted. A ball of lightning crackled and sizzled as it made its way towards him.

"Fuuton: Kaze Katta!" A blade of wind roared towards the middle of the clearing.

The three attacks met in the middle where Kakashi stood nonchalantly; as they collided an immense explosion occurred. Sasuke and Sakura couldn't believe what they had just witnessed; the dead last of their class had just captured and killed their sensei. They stared in the cover of the trees just waiting to see what would be left standing once the smoke cleared.

Absolutely nothing. There was no trace of anything having been there whatsoever. Naruto walked into the clearing like nothing had happened. He looked down into the hole and saw a log. "God damn Kawarimi, I always freaking fall for it! Next time I'm having a clone hold him down so he can't perform any seals… "Come on out, we know you're still alive." Naruto yelled at the trees.

'Okay, a few jutsu here and there was acceptable, he had been training on his own, but those three techniques were B rank moves. No genin, hell few chunin know moves of that caliber. I'm talking to the kid after this is all over… I have to know where he got his training.' He shook his head. That was a matter for another time because right now he had a student who wanted to fight.

He jumped down into the clearing and stood face to face with Naruto. The kid rushed at him once more and was punched in the face immediately, Kakashi deciding that he was through playing around with Naruto. It disappeared, 'Why am I not surprised?' Kakashi thought.

"Thanks sensei, I have just about all the information I need now! Next up, Sasuke! He's been itching to fight you for a while now, and who am I to stop him?" Naruto said as though he were an announcer at some major sporting event.

Sasuke deciding that this was his time to show Kakashi that he was strong too stepped out into the clearing. "You ready for this Sasuke?" Kakashi asked, hoping that he could get a decent fight out of the boy.

Sasuke just nodded. He charged at the man, intent on at least touching one of the bells around the man's waist. He had good form for an academy student, and his speed was incredible for a thirteen year old, but still he wasn't nearly as much of a fighter as Naruto. Sasuke kept up his onslaught throwing kicks and punches towards the man's head.

"C'mon, is this all you got Sasuke? I was hoping for more!" Kakashi said, toying with the boy. He realized that his underestimating the boy would prove to be a mistake. As he stepped back giving Sasuke more ground he stepped over a trip wire. It activated and sent 20 shurikens at him, causing him to jump back, activating another trip wire. As he deftly dodged all the shurikens he thought to himself, 'So, if Naruto is the guy who charges into the wall with his fist outstretched trying to break it, Sasuke is the guy who plants C4 beforehand. I can't say I'm particularly surprised, Naruto does take after his mother.' Kakashi thought to himself, reminiscing about the old times before being shocked back into reality.

"Seriously Sasuke, too many traps man, too many!" Kakashi said, deciding that it was about time that he immobilized Sasuke.

"Katon: Housenka" Sasuke yelled as multiple bursts of fire erupted from his mouth in a blazing glory. Kakashi decided that it was now or never and enacted his plan. After the fireballs hit their mark Sasuke watched as the smoke cleared, keeping his guard up for any signs of his sensei. 'Nothing, but knowing sensei, he definitely isn't dead. He probably found some way to escape, and as he examined the clearing he felt two hands wrap around his ankles. Realizing what had happened a second too late; he was pulled under, his head the only part of his body that was showing.

'Jeez, that's impressive. I can't pull anything under, I can only hold them. I need to learn how to do that!' Naruto thought to himself as he observed Sasuke struggling to escape.

Sakura rushed out onto the field to help, and Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He saw it coming from a mile away, she didn't. Kakashi had put a genjutsu on her that made her feel as though Sasuke had had his arms severed from his body. She fell onto the ground in a massive heap. Naruto deciding that this was too pitiful to watch, stepped onto the field and scooped the girl up and took her back to the cover of the trees. He went back for Sasuke and wrenched him out of the ground, much to his discomfort.

"Thanks." Sasuke muttered, following him back to the trees while caring for his wounded pride. Naruto had done much better than he had. It was something that needed to change soon, but for right now he accepted that fact and knew that he would have to work with Naruto if either of them wanted a bell.

Naruto cast a dispel jutsu on Sakura and lulled her back to her senses. "Alright guys, you both saw how that went down, right? We got our asses handed to us. There's no way we can do this alone, and every genin team functions in threes, which means there has to be some sort of catch to this. There has never been a genin team without 3 members and a sensei, which means he is lying right? He must want us to act like a team and work together, regardless of the fact that one of us 'won't pass'." Naruto stated, confident in his own critical thinking skills. During his time training with Iruka, the older man made sure that Naruto wasn't just a good shinobi, and that he was well read also. The more Naruto read, the more Naruto grew as an intellectual.

Sasuke, impressed by Naruto's logic just nodded and asked, "So, got any plans Naruto?"

"Well, there is just this one thing I think might work."

XxX

(Thirty minutes later)

Kakashi sat alone on the tree stump reading his book. 'Jeez, they only have an hour left; I wonder what they're doing.' He thought distracted from his book. He shook his head and started reading again, only to be interrupted by his favorite little blue haired avenger.

"Let's go." Was the only thing Sasuke uttered before charging the man, kunai in hand. Kakashi sighed and decided to play along.

Every strike was dodged, and every sweep avoided. Kakashi had really thought that they might have become a team. 'I guess I was wrong… Looks like I'm failing another team this year.' He thought as he exchanged hits with the young Uchiha.

He noticed a blur of orange and yellow dashing towards him and quickly made distance between him and the Uchiha boy so he could deal with Naruto. Without any time to think about what happened, he threw a full force punch at the boy and at the same time a kunai pierced his leg. The boy dispersed in a plume of smoke, and he reached down the check his leg. 'They got me there, but I still have the bells.' But as he said that, from behind him another Naruto came at even faster speeds. This was something he wouldn't be able to stop unless he really went at the boy with the intent to hurt him. 'Well, I got to maintain face and I bet the kid can take a hit.' Kakashi thought as he collided with the boy at full speeds, this time sending him back into a tree, but as all that happened Sasuke inched himself closer and closer to the bells. Then with a burst of speed he made a mad dash for the bells, grasping them in his hands before having them pulled away as the white haired man pushed him away quickly. Kakashi thought that he was out of the forest, but at that same moment a kunai had cut the string from the bells and Sakura was seen charging towards them as fast as she could which, when compared to the others was not very. He easily dispatched her by grabbing her wrist and throwing her as far as he could. She hit the ground, but was not seriously injured. Kakashi shook his head and saw 5 Naruto's charging towards him at speeds he could barely keep up with. They split up and went in five different directions, trying to confuse the man. Their attempt was unsuccessful as the man retaliated with Kage Bunshin's of his own. They each took their own man and soon all the Naruto's were gone save for one.

"Damn sensei, you are good!" Naruto exclaimed, buying as much time as he could. "How'd you get so strong? Don't leave any details out!"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the boy, that wasn't normal behavior, something was going on and he needed to find out what. Naruto broke out into his trademark grin and sat down.

"What? Get up, we aren't through yet, you still don't have any bells!" He looked around to make sure that Sakura and Sasuke were still face down in the ground. Naruto chuckled and just pointed behind him where the bells lay.

Two hands were sticking out of the ground, a bell in each hand. As Kakashi jumped for the hands, they pulled back into the ground. They went to Sakura and left a bell next to her and then they went to Sasuke and gave him the other bell. Naruto looked at him with the biggest, cheekiest grin that he could muster. They had beaten their sensei. They had gotten the bells. And above all they had done it with team work.

Kakashi stared at them, a mixture of emotions filling his eyes, anger at himself for letting these kids get the best of him, and joy. Joy that he could now call these three his students. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be able to call himself a sensei by the end of the day.

"… Good job!" Was all that he managed to say.

"WE DID IT!" Naruto exclaimed at the top of his lungs. His other two teammates standing up and realizing what had happen shouted exclamations of their happiness as well.

He motioned for the three of them to sit down on three logs across from him. The three of them felt as though they were in one big dream. Naruto decided to test this out and he pinched Sasuke really hard. "Ah, Naruto? What the hell was that?" Sasuke yelled at him.

"Are we dreaming? Because I'm pretty sure we might be…" Naruto told him his theory. Sasuke shook his head, he felt as though he were dreaming, but Naruto had already tried to pinch him awake so he knew that this was reality.

"No Naruto, we actually did pass." Sasuke said, a far off look in his eyes.

Kakashi looked at them, his eyes turned up indicating that a smile was hidden under his mask. "You guys are the first team to ever pass this test. You should be very proud that you got the best of a jounin, but it really was just because I underestimated you, don't expect it to happen again when we train!" He said, making sure their ego didn't grow too much.

"So which one of us goes back to the academy?" Naruto asked hoping the answer was what he thought it was.

"Good question, none of you have to go back! This was a team work exercise. Are you willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of a mission? With this you have answered that question with a resounding YES!" Kakashi said proudly.

The three of them looked at each other, eyes brimming with happiness.

"Now, you can call yourselves true ninja!" Kakashi said happily.

"We did it… We're real shinobi now!" Naruto said. "There's only one thing we can do in a situation like this, and that is to go out for LUNCH!" Naruto said, smiling as he got up, dusting himself off.

"Alright Naruto, and this time I WILL pay for the meal!" Kakashi said, not lying this time. "You guys have earned one free meal!"

Sakura looked at them with an ominous look in her eyes. "If I pay again there is no doubt that someone will die tomorrow. Blood will be shed; there is no doubt about it." She said, and Kakashi felt that killing intent he had felt earlier, fear in his entire being. 'I guess that's it for me skipping out on meals.' Kakashi thought wondering what would happen if he were to leave the girl with the check, shuddering at the possibilities.

"So what kind of food are you guys up for right now?" Kakashi asked.

"You know, I'm really not in the mood for ramen right now, I'm kind of feeling like barbeque!" Naruto said enthusiastically, for once not wanting ramen.

"Well Naruto, since you DON'T want ramen, I guess we can go for barbeque, any objections?" Kakashi asked.

The other two students shook their head in disbelief at the fact that Naruto didn't want ramen for once.

"So, let's get going, I know this really good barbeque place, me and Shikamaru used to go there all the time!" Naruto said, leading them along.

"Ah, actually give me a second, you guys keep going. I have to handle some business really quick." Naruto said, walking back into the forest. The three of them just kept walking without him, taking his word that he would catch up. Naruto retraced his steps back into the forest where he had left his weights. "No 'weigh' I'm leaving you guys behind!" Naruto said, chuckling at his own pun. He picked them up and put them back into his leg warmers, grunting at the amount of strain they put on his tired body. "Definitely worth it." Naruto said to himself as he marveled at his own speed without the weights on. "Kakashi never saw it coming, and I bet he still doesn't know how I did that, but since he's my sensei I guess it is his job to find out about stuff like that. I guess I'll tell him if he asks, but I'm not going out of my way to talk to him." Naruto said to himself. He had grown into a habit of talking to his clones when he had no one else to talk to as they provided good company, but when they weren't around he would still talk to himself. It was a bad habit, he knew, but he couldn't break it.

Shaking his head he decided to regroup with his team. He quickly ran, adjusting his speed to his newly reacquired weights. He caught up to them and they made their way into the barbeque shop, and immediately upon entering they heard the gruff voice at the academy yell, "Kakashi! Get over here; come eat with my new genin team! What's this, who are these kids? You can't be serious! You've never passed anyone in the history of your being a jounin instructor!" The black haired man yelled from across the room.

Kakashi just shook his head and made his way to their table, taking a seat next to the man. He gestured for his new team to join him. Naruto came around and saw Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino sitting there. "You guys passed too!" Naruto yelled happily.

Shikamaru just looked at him and shook his head, "How the hell did you pass? Oh well, I really don't care." Shikamaru said, but decided to not pursue it any further.

Naruto just shook his head and decided that he would just sit back and enjoy the rest of the day with his friends. They ate for about an hour and the two senseis decided to split the bill. 'Hmm, I would feel bad leaving Sakura alone with the bill, but I think I can pull it off with Asuma.' He thought as he looked around, his eyes shifty.

The rest of the genin filed out of the building, clutching their stomachs as they had let loose as a celebration for their becoming shinobi. Chouji couldn't stop smiling as he thought about how often they would come here.

Ino looked at Naruto and said, "Hey Naruto, it's a wonder you passed, but I bet Sasuke-kun did all the work, right?" She asked, a smirk on her face, as though she were trying to establish her own superiority.

Naruto was about to make a witty comeback before being cutoff, "Actually, the three of us worked as a team. We wouldn't have won if we didn't work together." Sasuke bit out in annoyance.

Ino just looked at him funny, "Oh, you're just trying to be modest Sasuke-kun!" She said, smiling and reassuring herself that he hadn't stooped so low as to need the dead last's help.

Sakura was about to retaliate, feeling the need to defend her new team mate, but decided that she wouldn't listen either way. Even Sakura could barely believe that Naruto was that strong and she had seen it firsthand.

They decided to leave it at that and the six of them parted ways. The Nara clan home being in the same direction as Naruto's apartment, Shikamaru walked with Naruto.

"So, how did he test you guys?" Shikamaru asked, curious about Naruto's test.

"Well, he made us try to retrieve these bells from his hip. It was really tough, and we couldn't do it alone so we had to work as a team to do it. Kakashi, our sensei is actually really freaking strong! If he had been trying we would have all been dead within a few seconds, no doubt about it." Naruto said, shaking his head.

"Heh, what a pain. Our sensei is pretty laid back, like me." Shikamaru said. "We had a pretty simple test; it was just that we had to work as a team. It was pretty obvious so I got us three to work together." Shikamaru said, scratching the back of his head.

They had reached a fork in the road where the road diverged, Naruto taking the path on the left and Shikamaru taking the path on the right. "See ya Shikamaru!" Naruto shouted out as they grew further and further away.

He got to his apartment, opened the door to his small room. 'God I love this place. So small, but it still feels like home.' Naruto thought to himself with a smile as he fell down onto the couch, and was immediately assaulted by rapping on the door.

"Who is it?" He asked annoyed at someone barging in on his downtime.

"It's me Naruto." The mysterious voice said, but Naruto recognized it and got up to the door. He opened the door and was greeted by the familiar face of his white haired teacher.

"Sup sensei." Naruto said, already taking up a relaxed tone with him.

"Hey Naruto, mind if I come inside?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Be my guest." Naruto said. Kakashi nodded and made his way inside the small apartment. He looked around, much like Iruka did when he first saw Naruto's home. "It's not much, but it's home." Naruto said.

Kakashi saw scrolls littering the ground everywhere. "So, you like to read?" He asked, not expecting that from his student.

"Nah, but it's necessary." Naruto said, eyeing the scrolls cautiously. "So, I assume that this isn't just you trying to get to know your students a little better, right?" Naruto said.

'He's quick.' Kakashi thought before responding with, "Yeah, there are some things I want to ask you Naruto, mind taking a seat?" Kakashi made himself comfortable on the boy's couch. Naruto took a seat across from Kakashi wondering what the man wanted to ask him.

"So Naruto, have you been formally trained before?" Kakashi asked.

"You mean by another ninja? Other than the academy, just one person has trained me." Naruto said. The man deserved to know now that he was his new sensei. "Umino Iruka personally trained me."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, 'Umino Iruka was a former Anbu member. Why did he train Naruto?' He decided to voice his question, "So Naruto, any idea as to why he might have trained you?"

"Well, he always said it was because I had so much chakra yet so little control, and he couldn't stand watching me struggle so much. He trained me in every aspect of being a shinobi. I'm much better rounded than I was before." Naruto said.

"I see, so, how long had he trained you?" Kakashi asked, assuming that with the level of skill Naruto had displayed, Iruka had been training him for at least two long grueling years.

"About three months. And even then, we didn't train all too much. It was more like, he would give me some things to do, make sure I could do it, and then he would give me something else to do." Naruto said.

Kakashi looked at the boy carefully, "Three months did you say Naruto? Not three years? Did you do any kind of special training to progress so quickly?" Kakashi asked, overlooking an obvious possibility.

"I used the Kage Bunshin training method 4 days a week. It took a lot out of me so I couldn't concentrate at the academy. I barely scraped by with a pass. I usually had my clones read and train at night, doing stuff like Chakra control and basic jutsu." Naruto said.

"Those techniques you displayed were anything but basic Naruto. Those were very high leveled jutsu. I assume Iruka told you that the Kyuubi is the reason that you have so much chakra?" Kakashi said, hoping he had not stepped on a landmine.

"Yeah, it was pretty shocking at first, but I got over it pretty quick. It's a blessing in disguise as some might say." Naruto said.

"Yeah, seems like you're pretty mature about it. So, now that I know about how you got so strong, if you need more material to study or train, just come to me. I'll be able to provide scrolls for you, no problem. I assume you can train yourself, but if you need help come to me." Kakashi said, making sure his student knew that he was always willing to help.

Naruto nodded, and Kakashi decided that it was his time to leave. Naruto sat down and decided that maybe his sensei wasn't so lazy after all.

"This might not be so bad…"

XxX

A/N – I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I felt like it was a big step up from chapter 1 and is pretty good along with chapter 2. This will probably be the average chapter length from now on, around 5-8K words. Tell me what you think, tell me where I can improve and as always,

Don't forget to read and review!

Next chapter should be out in around a week as well. Currently working on it. Enjoy!


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